Telón
by Spectrumall
Summary: A few years after the Events of the movie, the Situation in Scrap Iron City doesn't seem to become any better, so Alita and her new companion make their way to find a new place to live for those that want to escape the limitless Terror. But things are not what they seem... I decided to up this story to M-Rating, just to make sure I dont get into any trouble:)
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer

I don't own the content in this fiction except for everything I invented and added to the story myself.

Reader Information:

Everything that happens in this story is based on the recently released movie. Every manga/series has been ignored as well as any information provided in them.

If you find any grammatically incorrect parts feel free to message me, improvements can always be made. Also, be aware that this series will contain blood/gore as well as actions that might be offensive towards ethnic minorities, gender identities and several other potentially sensitive topics. If you do not agree on this, do yourself a favor and don't read any further. Parental guidance is recommended for those at a certain age.

Author's Note

Wow, so this is my first story here. I will try to update it at least once every month, to provide some reading material for those that are interested in this story. If you enjoy reading this, please review, as that is something that really means a lot to the authors. No matter if it's critics or just general appreciation, every review is an unbelievable motivation to keep going on. ENJOY!

Huge credit to **Cait the Bookworm **and **Abby White **for betareading and correcting.

* * *

Prologue

720 hours in. 30 days already. And there was still no sign that could lead to people or civilized areas. Just rocks, sand and dead bushes as far as she could see. Alita turned around, looking for her companion. He was walking just a few meters behind her, the wind playing with his short black hair.

His stature was athletic, and his clothes were marked by the rough weather they had encountered. Nonetheless, his azure eyes were still emitting a feeling of confidence and warmth. On his left cheek she could see the faded scar that was beared from his cheek down to his neck. She really wanted to know its origin, but she couldn't bring herself to ask him yet. Somehow she felt safe when being near him, and she didn't want to take the risk of losing that feeling.

"Are you alright?"

He stood right next to her all of a sudden.

"You know the desert made a lot of people mad before."

He seemed worried. Alita smiled and shook her head.

"I'm okay, it's just… I'm not sure if we will ever find something out here. Maybe we're chasing ghosts the entire time."

He gave her a charming smile.

"I'm sure we're going to find something soon. But for now we should hurry up. It seems there's a storm coming."

He pointed west towards a huge cluster of dark clouds that were moving in their direction at an alarming speed.

They started running, away from the hurricane force winds.

"There!"

He pointed towards a gaping hole inside a huge rock. The icy winds tore at her clothes and hair, and all of a sudden there was sand and dirt everywhere. Alita lost almost all her vision within seconds when the squall line swallowed her. She heard him shout something but his voice got lost in the screaming winds.

Stumbling through the storm, she could just hope that she was going in the correct vague direction. He warned her about these sandstorms. They could build in only minutes and they would travel through the rocky fields at insane speeds. Then someone grabbed her shoulder and pulled her over with a firm grasp.

All of a sudden the tearing winds were gone as quick as they came and she stumbled into the cave. She wiped the dirt out of her face and looked around. Darkness surrounded her but close to her she could hear somebody heavily breathing.

"Alita? Are you okay?"

His voice was a real relief to her and immediately the situation didn't seem that bad anymore. She nodded before realizing he couldn't see her.

"Yeah, I think I'm alright."

"Thank God. I wasn't sure if we were going to make it there for a moment."

Alita silently agreed with him. If only she had been paying a little more attention she might have been able to avoid this mess. While her eyes started to get used to the darkness, she noticed a lot of things: the stones hanging from the ceiling, the sounds of water dripping in close proximity, as well as the storm howling just a few feet behind her.

She rose up from the ground and walked further into the cave. After just a few steps the temperature seemed to rise. Then the cave opened up and suddenly Alita stood inside a huge cavern with an almost even ground and a basin filled with water on her right. The walls were covered in small crystals emitting a faded light, filling the entire cave with a blue light that seemed to be in motion the entire time.

"Wow!"

She never expected to find something like this, just waiting inside this cave. Behind her, she heard him entering the room with a reverent whistle.

"I guess this world still keeps a lot of secrets we can't possibly understand."

There was a slight echo to his voice.

"We can spend the night in here if you want."

"You are saying that as if there was any chance I didn't want to stay here"

Alita smiled.

"This is one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen."

He watched her attentively as she went to explore the cave. The mysterious crystals had even more of a beautiful glimmer from close up. Alita left her gear where it was and went straight for the pool. When diving in, she realized the water wasn't cold at all: instead it was almost hot. She felt the warm water caress her skin and all the stress and dirt that had collected during the last few days started to disappear during the warm bath.

Alita had no idea how long she stayed down in the pool. When she came back up, he would've already cooked a small meal. Canned beans and some small pieces of meat was everything they had left. It didn't bother any of them to stick to simple food, even though Alita missed chocolate. The sweet and soft taste of …

"Alita! Do you hear me? Your dinner is getting cold!"

She walked over and sat down next to him. He reached out to hand her the bowl.

"I was near the exit while you were in there. The storm is still raging out there, and as long as it doesn't settle we'll be trapped in here. Also, we are running out of food, our reserves might last for a few more days, maybe a week. If we don't find anything to eat soon, we are going to be in some serious trouble."

She was surprised that their situation was looking this bad. For a moment, guilt and hopelessness overwhelmed her. It had been _her_ idea to go out here. And even worse, it had also been her to persuade him to join her on this journey.

"You know, if this doesn't end well, I'm sorry I involved you in this. I was stupid to think there could be someone still out here. Back in the city you could have probably had a way better time."

His eyes were filled with empathy when he took her hands.

"There is nothing you have to be sorry for Alita. I was well aware of the risk when I decided to join you. Also, we are still far from death."

His bottomless faith surprised her once again. She caught herself wondering how she never noticed him before. Was it because he was just human? Without any augments or robotic parts? She really couldn't tell, and that worried her even more. Had the Iron City made her blind for good people? Had she become a bad person herself? She would have to take care of these doubts at some point. But for now there were more important problems.

He pressed her hands once more, but then he stood up and took off his jacket. Even in the faded light she could see the scar running down his back. He never talked about where he got it from, just like he didn't talk much about his past. The splash he made as he jumped in resounded through the entire cave.

Alita stayed where she was and started eating her beans. They had gotten cold already, but after the long day every meal seemed like a feast to her. She ate all her beans then decided to take a look outside. She could hear the howling of the storm long before she saw the exit. The exit itself was blocked off by a moving wall of dirt and sand, tossed around by the roaring squalls. Alita wondered if there could really be something out there.

A few days ago, when they both were sitting around their campfire, he told her a story from the slums of Iron City; A story about a second city far away, that survived the Great Fall. Hidden from the residents of Iron City and Zalem equally, it was supposed to be a place of science and wonder where everyone- no matter if they were cyborg or human- would live happy lives.

A small part of Alita wanted to believe all the stories he told her about. But her rational thoughts told her to forget the tales and concentrate on what they had to face at the moment.

When Alita returned to the cave he seemed to have just finished his bath. He looked at her with his head slanted and his arms crossed in front of his chest.

"Did you enjoy the view out there?"

The water seemed to have brightened his mood.

"I have never seen such a danger coming from nature itself."

Alita replied. A small smile ran over her face when he laughed heartily. He leaned against one of the bigger rocks and dried his hair with a piece of fabric. It didn't take long until the warm and dark cave made them sleepy enough to make them decide to go to bed. When darkness finally swallowed the cave, the two of them slept both peacefully and deeply.


	2. Chapter 2

_Disclaimer:_

_I don't own the characters that I took from the original stories, I only claim ownership on the _

_Characters and storytelling that has been invented and added by myself. _

_If you happen to find any grammatically incorrect phrases, or just have some ideas to improve _

_what I do here, feel free to message me._

_Also be aware that my work might continue content that is not fitted for younger audiences or_

_might even offend members of certain minorities, genders or communities. If you are not okay _

_with that, please don't continue reading. Parental advisory is advised._

* * *

Mayhem.

**The **sky lit up for a second while the huge aircraft exploded. He turned his head just to see the mayhem all around him. Hovering only fifty meters from the ground, he could still see the rifle traces, the explosions tearing holes into the ground, the soldiers falling. All this seemed in the wrong place when the first sunbeams enlightened the battlefield. Suddenly yellowy light was everywhere. The desert underneath him was narrowed by mountains in all directions, almost like a huge bowl. And between those mountains, the war was at its peak. Soldiers ran around everywhere, huge cannons fired, Planes covered the sky with noise and the ground with explosions. Untouched by all of this rose the seemingly pristine sky city Zalem. The huge round plate was kept in place by a big metal pillar that reached far into the sky. It was connected to the second city, its big brother, floating far up in space. A rocket passed his plane by only meters. He pulled back his joystick, turning his vehicles nose towards Zalem. The machine started roaring as it quickly picked up speed. His entire world started to distort, his thoughts went faster and faster as if they tried to keep up with the speed of the jet. A loud screech followed by an incredibly annoying beeping disturbed his concentration. A small trail of flames appeared on his left, every lamp inside the cockpit started to rapidly blink. Exactly three seconds later the aircraft exploded and his world was filled with flames and pain.

He started up from his sleep, drenched in sweat and heavily breathing. This had felt way too real. He remembered where he was after just a few seconds. It had been three days since they first came into the cave. The storm outside did not seem to move at all, but in here, everything was peaceful. Right next to him he heard Alita's calm breaths. The young girl was fascinating. Her body was entirely synthetic, everything except her brain had been fully replaced by machine parts. A black top covered up her upper body, leaving only her arms and her neck free of the silicon-like material. Her arms were made from a metal core, surrounded by a perfectly engineered synthetic muscle tissue. You could almost look through the light purple fiber, allowing him to see small electric charges move along the muscles every now and then. Her face was pretty, big brown eyes, a small nose and shoulder-length, night black hair. Of course none of that was real either. Special silicon mixtures allowed her skin to look as natural as any other human, except she never got a sunburn or even a tan. He really wished he knew the person to create such a wonderful piece of tech. These days there was probably no one like that around anymore. Maybe her adopted father, the cyberdoc Ido Daisuke. He had seen his work before but nothing really compared to this girl.

The "Battle Angel"; that was the name they called her down in the slums. One of many of course, especially since she made a name for herself down in the motorball arena. Motorball was the big show that the people of Zalem held off to keep the citizens entertained. He would say it worked quite well, the people might not be happy, but still they did what they were told. Seeing the cyborgs slaughter each other down in that huge arena was the even that everyone waited for again and again. And this inconspicuous girl, yes this girl that was merely five feet tall, had just walked in and made mincemeat out of some of the best fighters in the arena. As interesting as that was it was told her only goal was reaching the skycity Zalem. People still believed that the champion in motorball was going to be sent to Zalem. A small lie told by those that lived in Zalem already. But it kept the motorball players at a short leash. Good for those that lived up in Zalem, bad for those that were controlled by it.

However, her way through the motorball leagues hadn't been unnoticed. Almost everyone down in the slums knew her name, but opinions about her were split. Some people called her a heroine that would save all of them, something he didn't believe while others planned on killing her for a long time. It didn't matter to him either. He was a specialist at surviving not caring about others. Also she was a cyborg, basically the worst kind of person around in this city. If they didn't bully each other they bullied non-augmented people. Something that ended with dead people most of the time. Fortunately the hunter warriors and the Centurion tried to keep the peace within the city walls. Hunter warriors were just bounty hunters, they were paid for killing or catching criminals and therefore rewarded with credits by the factory. Centurions on the other hand were huge autonomous robots that patrolled the slums; fighting those was stupid, something only people that wanted to die would try. He had been a witness once when a Centurion took care of a rebellious cyborg. The man had been torn apart by the machine guns before he had even had time to draw his weapon.

He sat up and loosened his muscles. Great. Underneath his left arm was the blade Alita carried around. No wonder it felt tormented. It had been way too long since he last slept in a real bed. Sometimes he really asked himself why he even left the scrap city with this girl. He didn't even really know her; he just happened to be in Kansas bar, the meetup spot for hunter warriors, when she recruited people to join her. She wanted to go out there and find a better place for everyone to live in. That was the one thing he agreed on. Living in Scrap City had turned into quite a burden lately. Even more than they had before; criminal scum roamed the alleys and the Centurions didn't exactly make things better for anyone. What a shitty place to live in indeed. But really was there even any chance to find something better out here? Only time would tell.

He watched the water throw flecks of light on the wall for a few more minutes until he decided to take a look outside. He picked up his favorite weapons; two specially modified versions of the so called .45's that he bought of a merchant years ago. One of them had the word "Mustang" carved into its handle, the other one was inscripted with the word "Sally". Using a firearm was rather unusual especially since the factory used lethal force again anyone that owned or used one. But for him they had always provided quite useful in combat, be it whilst fighting cyborg combatants or anything else. The only price for this advantage was hiding from Centurions whenever he came across them. On his way towards the exit dirt and small stones slipped underneath his boots, causing noises that echoed through the entire cave. When the exit finally came into sight the first thing he saw was the blazing sun emerging from the horizon. A few steps outside showed him an unexpected picture. The storm had deformed the entire landscape, leaving rocks where there was sand before and small stones where there had been huge rock formations. Nothing moved across the entire plain and everything was covered in silence like a thick blanket. It appeared this storm killed everything that might have still been crawling around. This cave had saved their life without doubt. At least he would be able to navigate using the sun. He pulled a yellowed map and took a look around. A small red dot marked the Iron City on the map, another one was supposed to mark their current location. But it wasn't in the right spot. At this point the marker was already next to the sea. Due to his calculations they should have reached an ocean about 3 days ago, but still there was nothing but desert around. It didn't take him long to figure out the way that was supposed to lead to the ocean. It was their best bet to try and get there before running out of supplies soon. A noise behind him made him spin around, his left on the grip of his weapon. The young cyborg girl stood there, stretched and yawned: "Good morning"

"Good morning. Slept well?"

"Not any worse than last night. You look worried, what happened?" Of course she had noticed his worried expression. He would have to pay more attention to this, keep his thoughts better hidden. Otherwise this girl might even get behind his reason to be here. She was not allowed to know. At least not while he was not yet sure if she could be really trusted.

He forced himself to slightly smile: "We are almost at the ocean by now. It can't be much further now."

"That is great! We should go as soon as possible right?"

He nodded: "Before the temperature rises much further, yes."

The two of them got back on track quickly and over the duration of the midmorning they were able to put quite a distance between them and the cave. But the higher the sun rose the hotter it became. As the sun stood in its zenith the temperature in the wasteland had become unbearable. It had to be at least 30°C and he was running through his water supplies way too fast for his liking. Sweat drenched his clothes while he followed Alita over dunes further into the unknown. In contrast to himself the cyborg girl didn't even seem to notice the heat and the lack of life around them. She denied every time he offered her something to drink. This unbearable heat made thinking unbelievably hard.

The sun made its way further over the sky, slowly sinking towards the horizon but the heat didn't seem to disappear. By now the landscape had changed, instead of the mere infinite red-ish sand fields they were now passing through a rather rocky area. Around them were small stripes of land that might have been green someday ago but now where dried out by the heat. They hadn't travelled through the rocky terrain for long when the hills in front of them came closer. Once on top they gave sight to a small valley, protected by hills from all direction and right next to it was an endless blue surface that stretched far into the horizon. They had actually made it to the ocean. He could feel his blood prickle with mixed emotions. There was a powerful feel, kinda like the rush of adrenaline during a fight. At the same time he felt small, like a flea, as if his existence was only a blink of an eye on this world that had survived and endured so much more than any human ever could. Alita seemed evenly impressed by the view across the Valley: "We are here! This is beautiful! Is that the ocean? It's so much bigger than I expected! Does it even have an end?" "Of course it ends. Just where it ends is something I can't tell you." It seemed his calculations had only been a little off after all.

"What is that out there, that bridge?" Alita pointed towards the ocean, just on the opposite site of the valley. He stared into the direction she pointed in and really, like a grey border splitting the ocean in two halves a massive bridge stretched far into the perfect blue. In fact it went so far he couldn't even see the end of it. "You are right. It is a bridge." "And? Let's go there; I'm sure there are people nearby. I mean someone built this, right?" He laughed a little. Sometimes it was really hard to believe she was actually way older than most people. She just had that way of behaving that reminded him of a curious little child exploring the world for the first time. "Yeah I think so. Let' not waste any more time staring then shall we?"

The way down the hill turned out to be way more interesting than he expected. At first he followed the petite cyborg through the field of big rocks until their surroundings changed again. Now the grass around them was green, flowers bloomed across the field. The girl almost danced along the small path. She really was a kid sometimes. Suddenly some grass loosened underneath her foot and she slipped off. Before he got to grab her hand she slid down the hill in an avalanche of screams and body parts. He watched her sliding down, rolling over until she finally came to a stop at the foot of the hill. She was back on her feet immediately, brushing the dirt off her clothes as if she was ashamed for what just happened. He couldn't help himself of a good laugh. This was turning into quite a fun experience...  
It took him almost a quarter of an hour to reach the foot of the hill himself. She waited underneath the shadow of a nearby tree watching him as he came closer. He opened his mouth but she preempted him: "Not a single word or I swear I will..." He raised his hands in surrender and grinned: "My lips are sealed."  
They entered the dark forest and made their way further towards the construct they had seen in the distance. Underneath the leaves the temperature was more pleasant. It was quite dark down here as well, the only light falling in beams through the dense leaves. Still everything was humming with life around them. Insects passed through the light in hundreds, birds chirped all around them and smaller animals hid inside the covert as they passed by.  
It didn't take long until they came up on a street. An old-fashioned street made from concrete, once well made, now overgrown. The plants growing out of it and the cracks it had told him it hadn't been used in some time. Independent from that, the street seemed to lead into the common direction they wanted in; they decided to follow it. The street took them along for quite a while, eventually passing other second streets that either crossed or merged together with the street they walked on. Slowly the two of them seemed to come towards the end of the street. At first there were a few smaller huts alongside the street, broken down and already reclaimed by nature.  
Then a huge gate blocked their path. It was made from metal, almost three meters tall and at least as wide. It stood in between two towers that reached even further into the sky. They were made from quadratic shape, built from massive grey stone bricks. On their other side the towers were accompanied by a huge wall. It was made from the same bricks, leading probably eight meters into the air, just a little smaller than the towers. The entire construct looked old and still it emitted an unbelievable presence. Intimidating just like the hydro walls that surrounded Iron City."_ (The hydro walls are a construct of electrified water being pressurized a hundred meters into the air in order to protect Iron City and keep the inhabitants inside.) _But other than the hydro walls this one didn't feel like a permanent threat and rather like a shield.

"This wall; could this be the place we are looking for?" He turned towards Alita: "I honestly doubt it. This place seems pretty dead to me." he said: "But we can't be sure until we check it out" he added when he noticed her disappointed glance. "Why don't you knock?" The young girl nodded and he watched her as she walked up to the door and knocked. Actually it was more like a cannon beat every time her hand hit the metal. The dull _Klong! Klong! Klong!_ Even caused some animals to flee as fast as they could. For quite a few minutes they waited. Everything kept silent except for the massive hits the gate had to take from Alita. But the gate stood strong, not giving in by a single inch.  
At some point they decided to find another way past the wall. They took a right turn along the wall and indeed, Alita quickly found another way in. She just climbed up the granite like a robotic spider, leaving him down at the ground as she disappeared over the top of it. He was not going to wait, instead he started to climb up himself. The small ledges barely held his weight and a few times he almost slipped off. He cursed every single time but still continued. Once up on the cope he was able to see what the wall was protecting.  
Cut off by the ocean on one side there laid a small city in here. The houses were built in a rather old fashioned style, made from a bright, almost white material. Most of the houses were covered with red-ish tiles some just had wooden roofs. And this city, which might have been wonderful once was now a devastated area. Holes had been torn into almost every wall, roof and street. Some streets were completely destroyed while others still had remains of makeshift barricades lying around on them. Even the perfectly looking wall was heavily damaged on this side. Shit! Of course the first real city they found had to be destroyed. At least it seemed to have been some time since anyone came here. He drew one of his pistols, checked the magazine and released the safety catch. He would have to find Alita.  
With the weapon in his left he moved along the wall towards the tower. In here everything was covered in a thick layer of dust but he was still able to recognize a small controller unit. Most likely required to open the gate. He tried a few buttons; nothing happened. Quickly he made his way down the staircase on the inside. As he left the tower he realized how bad this city had been hit. Nothing was left in its place, bulletholes were spread all across all surfaces. He spotted multiple places around the tower where bigger weapons must have hit, leaving larger holes from the impact. His trusty gun firmly gripped he moved through the houses. He remembered the town being built around a big square, most likely some kind of marketplace. Getting there was his goal for now. On his right hand side he spotted an open door . He took a second to gather his thoughts then he breached in. Nothing inside moved. Furniture was thrown all across the place, most of it completely dismantled. The silence in this city bothered him. There were not even birds in here. And no trace of the Battle Angel either. He exited through the same door he used to enter and moved further towards the cities center. Another turn around a corner and he stood in front of the open plaza.


	3. Chapter 3

_Disclaimer:_

_I don't own the characters that I took from the original stories, I only claim ownership on the _

_Characters and storytelling that has been invented and added by myself. _

_If you happen to find any grammatically incorrect phrases, or just have some ideas to improve _

_what I do here, feel free to message me._

_Also be aware that my work might continue content that is not fitted for younger audiences or_

_might even offend members of certain minorities, genders or communities. If you are not okay _

_with that, please don't continue reading. Parental advisory is advised._

* * *

**Authors Notes: Well, just wanted to make a quick note on this: I was not entirely satisfied with Ch2 and 3 so i rewrote both of them. Slight bits of story might have changed but the main change is some more details and little hints inbetween the lines. R&R and most importantly: Enjoy!**

**THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS GORE;BE WARNED!  
**

Nightfall

The entire plaza was opened up wide into all directions.  
It was shaped like a big circle, centering on a big  
well. Built from white marble the statue upon it reached  
a few meters into the air. It resembled three men, who  
for some reason were fighting two snakes. This statue  
was not the important part however. On top and around  
the well were skeletons set up. Not just a few, no, there were  
hundreds. Tall ones, small ones, some of them without cybernetics,  
but most of them had been heavily augmented. And all of them,  
without any exception, were clearly human. At least now he knew where  
the residents had gone. The young man decided to ignore the dead  
around him for now, even though the smell of death trenched the air.  
These people had to be lying here for quite some time, telling from  
their bleached bones and the rotten city around them.  
He noticed some movement out of the corner of his eye, immediately  
crouched down, his weapon at the ready.  
A few streets further, just a little down the plaza, a young girl  
stepped out onto the plaza. Black hair, the dark skintight outfit. Alita.  
She took a few more steps in the direction of the well, further onto  
the plaza. Then she just stood there, her head lowered. He holstered his  
weapon and moved closer. No reaction as he came closer. She stood  
still, not moving an inch. But he noticed it. The change in her stance. Her  
hands being quenched into fists and the small blue flames licking around them.  
He waited, knowing what this girl was able to do. Driven by anger and  
hatred she had killed many before. He felt pity for this girl but it  
was not his duty to save her from herself. People broke apart all the time.  
So he just stood there, waited until her hands stopped burning and her  
stance turned into a more relaxed mood. Surprising, he had expected her  
to at least destroy a bit of her surroundings. That meant her self-control  
was way better than what most people had to offer. He slowly began to  
see how she could have won all these fights before.

She turned towards him: "Do you know who did this?"

He shook his head: "Not the slightest idea. I looked for clues before  
but I found nothing except destruction everywhere. We should get going soon.  
It is going to get dark and I don't want to stay in this place during the night."  
That was not entirely true. He would have loved to sleep in a bed once again,  
even if it had been lying around for years. But something told him that this  
place was not a good location to spend the night. In a scenario like this he had  
learned to listen to his gut instincts.  
The girl looked at him. She had trusted his knowledge until now. He knew  
for a fact that she didn't quite know the way things worked out here. So  
he had used his knowledge of the wasteland and his experience in surviving the  
wilderness to guide her up to this point. She was going to trust him this time as well;  
he was sure of that.  
"Where do you want to go? Towards the bridge?" She pointed towards the ocean.  
"Yes. Every other way is gonna keep us running in circles. If we are able to cross this  
bridge, we have an entirely new area to explore. Probably a place that no one has been in for years."  
She nodded in understanding and they continued on their journey.  
Moving further through the city, they passed buildings, towers and entire streets that might  
have been beautiful once, but by now had been completely destroyed by the remains of war.  
Then, as they passed a few last houses, there was nothing around them anymore. The sea laid directly  
in front of them, just a few meters underneath their feet the waves crushed against the massive  
granite wall that defined the end of the city. And now, they stood right in front of the bridge.  
This close, its real size became obvious for the first time. It was at least ten meters wide and even higher  
that. Its massive concrete surface was held in place by a thick metal frame. The metal bars might have been red once,  
but by now the colors had been peeled off and replaced by dense rust particles everywhere. On both sides of  
the street two metal signs guarded the bridge. The letters on them were decayed, barely readable:  
"Atlantic Overbridge - measured length 53.7km - next stop 11.9km"  
All across the bridge burned out wrecks were scattered. Most of them were deformed beyond  
imagination, merely piles of metal scrap remaining. Only few looked like the things they were before: Cars.  
Not like the ones used in Iron City, no these ones were way more advanced, high-tech was really the only word.  
"So this is our way now? Where does it lead?" Alita almost had to scream to be heard over the waves.  
He nodded: "I don't exactly know. On the maps I have seen a bridge like this connects two continents.  
But as soon as we cross this bridge, I neither have a map or anything left to direct any further."  
"This is the unknown then? Well, what are we waiting for?"  
Without actually waiting for his answer the cyborg girl started to climb over the first wrecks.  
He shook his head then followed her towards an entirely unknown world. And as the sun sank further  
towards the horizon they made their way over the bridge.

Soon they realized that progressing over this bridge turned out to be way harder than expected.  
Everything seemed to work against them as they slowly made their way along the bridge.  
Freezing winds tore at his clothes, every step was a battle against the force of nature.  
As if that was not bad enough already, the wrecks spread across the bridge  
stacked up into insurmountable piles of metal. No matter if he moved around or over them  
the razor-sharp edges made it into a real torture. Multiple times he noticed the metal cut into his flesh;  
leaving only small wounds, but still painful and annoying. As darkness started to collapse over them,  
travelling became even harder. Then, when only the moonlight enlightened the dark bridge around them,  
they decided to stop for the day. Inside a small notch between a few wrecks that was offering decent  
protection from the winds they found themselves enough shelter for the night.

"Do you ever think what might be happening back home right now?"  
He barely heard that question over the winds.  
"No. I never think about it. If I did I would start to fear what I might find when I return."  
For a few seconds he felt the sadness within her heart. She felt alone, as if she had lost someone.  
"You lost someone there didn't you? And now you are afraid you might lose even more people that  
mean something to you."  
The girl nodded; her head slightly bowed down, like a puppet without strings.  
What on earth was he doing here? Did he really develop feelings for this cyborg girl?  
Having feelings in this world was almost as certain of a death as a bullet to the head.  
Well, screw it. Rules were meant to be broken right?  
He sat down next to her, leant his back against his backpack and patted her shoulder.  
She turned her head a little, smiled and leant her head against him, thankful for  
him just being there. He didn't say anything else, waited until she had fallen asleep.  
That was when he allowed himself to fall asleep as well, questioning his decision to come here.

* * *

"From here on you are a part of the best trained units to ever be trained in this facility.  
Wear your badges with big pride and prove worthy of them."  
He watched the ceremony from his favorite spot, the roof of the main hangar.  
Up here he could see almost everything that would happen down in the military base.  
There was an excellent view of the huge exercise area as well as the airstrip, stretching far  
into the red landscape of mars. The barracks and hangars were guarding the airstrip on both sides  
and in between them, at the top end of the airstrip emerged the command center. It was the only  
building that was actually bigger than the hangar he was sitting on top of.  
From where he sat he merely  
got a glimpse at the training center behind it, one of the high security facilities that were responsible  
for the inhuman soldiers they called the berserkers. These monstrosities looked like humans, but instead  
were fully robotic soldiers, the only human part remaining being their brains. They were supposed to be  
the revolutionary soldier of the future, able to perform a new fighting style that was being looked at  
as unbeatable in actual combat. He had been a part of those that tested the first prototypes when they  
were first developed.  
A loud horn tore him from his daydreams. It was about time to go and meet the command.  
He jumped down into the hangar, landed elegantly on the wing of his personal C-11 Fighter jet. There were at least  
fifty more around in the hangar, some were damaged but most of them were being prepared for another big attack.  
Soldiers were hustling around everywhere. The war was waging and it was only a question of time until every  
last one of them was asked to put their life in danger for something bigger than oneself. But something was changing.

* * *

He woke up from a wet nose touching his face. He opened his eyes just to stare into a pair of glowing red eyes.  
These eyes were not just red, they were actually glowing, emitting a slight red light. The second thing that hit him  
was the disgusting smell. And the animal they belonged to stood right on top of him. It was the biggest wolf he had ever seen.  
It was at least five feet tall, a real monstrosity.  
He felt another nose near his leg. The cuts! He had completely forgotten about those. These things must have smelled  
his blood. Cautious not to move fast he lifted his head and took a look around; there were at least thirty other dogs  
around him. All of them were much smaller than the one on top of him. His right hand slowly worked its way towards  
knife in his pocket. The big beast left off of his wounds and moved further towards his backpack. He didn't seem interested  
in his blood. But why were they here then? The answer to this question came quicker than expected as the Alpha took a bite of his  
flashlight that had been mounted to the side of his backpack. The metal handle broke and electricity unloaded in a blast of energy.  
The beast didn't seem to care at all. Instead it seemed to even enjoy it. They were looking for electricity! Where the hell was the cyborg girl?  
He noticed her blade right next to him. There she was, surrounded by some of the smaller animals. They were just waiting.  
Waiting for the Alpha to come over. And that was exactly what happened. The Alpha moved over to her motionless body, baring  
its teeth.  
His hand felt the metal body of his pistol and he drew it with a smooth move. The cold steel clicked, then the blast.  
Most of the sound was caught in the silencer as three bullets hit the big wolf in the neck. Kill the leader and the others  
will run right? He jumped to his feet as the Alpha turned around. This beast didn't even stagger from the bullets.  
No blood was visible either. All eyes laid on him now. With his second hand he pulled out his second weapon.  
Both sides sizing up each other. He was wondering how many he would be able to take out before being overrun.  
If some of them came too close they would quickly gain the upper hand. So that could not happen.  
The second problem was the Alpha. If that thing didn't even stagger from his bullets how was he supposed to defeat it?  
Explosives would have been his best choice but unfortunately he didn't have any with him.  
Well, no use in waiting. With this thought he raised his arms and opened fire. Before any of the animals even  
reacted he had already hit five of them. Luckily the small ones seemed quite dead after being hit by the bullets.  
Good. Adrenaline flooded his body as he gave in to the rush of the fight. Bullet after bullet left his weapon,  
killing one after another. Blood splattered around everywhere, he heard bones break and animals bark and screech as they died.  
His luck ran out as soon as his magazine did. He didn't even have time to reload when the first wolf already jumped at him.  
Dropping his pistols he grabbed the beasts nose and held its mouth closed before he threw it back into the crowd with a swing.  
A sharp sound occurred as the blade left its sheath and raised into his hand. Another dog came flying at him, he dodged, slit the wolf  
open as it flew past him. The beast collapsed behind him, the razor sharp edge had cut its entire belly open, leaving  
bloody internals seeping out.  
He turned around ready to face the next one but the huge Alpha hit him in the chest with its entire weight.  
The immense force pushed him back, throwing him to the ground. He hit the ground and all air was pushed out of his lungs.  
The Alpha had his legs right on top of his chest as it snatched for his throat. His arm shot into the air, stopping the teeth before  
they were able to get to his throat. Instead he felt the razor-sharp teeth tear deep into his flesh. The entire jacket he wore had been  
reinforced with tiny metal plates that were supposed to protect from knives and most other sharp weapons. But these teeth just  
pierced his jacket like it was not even there. His vision blurred out as the Alpha shook his head around, trying to rip his arm  
off. Luckily his jacket held against most of the force leaving his arm where it was supposed to be. He felt the smaller beasts around him,  
tearing off pieces of his armor, biting into his flesh. Almost none of them were able to pierce it. And during this moment that his life  
was on the edge to the end, with these teeth right in front of his face and the unbearable smell covering up everything else, time didn't  
matter anymore. Everything slowed down, as it slowly faded to dark. There was so much infinite peace in here. No fear, no cold, no wars.  
Just freedom and peace. And this wonderful warm darkness.  
NO! He was not going to die because he tried to save some cyborg girl he didn't even really know. Another wave of adrenaline  
pulsated through his body as the force on his arm was gone all of a sudden.  
Then the Alphas head slit off its shoulders, cut off with one perfectly clean cut.

The weight of the Alpha collapsed on him immediately, leaving him locked underneath the massive weight of this beast.  
From the corner of his eye he saw Alita slaughtering through the beasts without mercy. Bloody parts flew in all directions as  
the blue glowing blade cut them in pieces like paper. Her movements were unbelievably elegant; a real dance of death; a whirlwind  
destruction. He heard the animals scream in pain, breathed in and felt all the blood trenching the fresh ocean air. This bridge  
had turned into a bloody battlefield within minutes. He brought both his arms underneath the huge body that was still lying on top of him;  
But he quickly realized that thing was too heavy for his anyways exhausted muscles. So he laid back his head and waited until  
the screams became silent.  
A short time after silence returned to the bridge, Alita entered his field of view. She was sprinkled in blood but seemed neither  
hurt nor exhausted. She kneeled down right next to his hand, a worried expression in her face. "You are bleeding. How do I stop it?!"  
He heard the panic in her voice; but he managed to keep an encouraging smile. The blood loss was starting to get to his head. She  
was right, something had to be done quickly. "Can you get this thing off me please." He heard his own voice crumbling as he spoke but  
the girl had understood him. She jumped up, grabbed the huge wolf; and with a single pull the weight was gone off his chest. This sudden  
event caused him to deeply cough; but he was not off the edge just yet. The bite wound in his arm stood wide open and he could  
feel how much blood he was loosing. He started to talk while he took off his jacket.  
"Alita. You gotta help me here." He made sure to establish eye contact with her as he explained her what to do.  
She pulled out the medical supplies from his backpack; within it was a small sewing kit. A needle and some thread.  
There was also a small bottle filled with high-proof alcohol; the closest thing to sterile you could get down in the slums.  
He gasped for air as he poured the liquid onto the wound; it felt as if his arm was being torn off straight away.  
This was the easy part. He made sure to get something to bite on as the cyborg girl started to sew the wound.  
The adrenaline still running through his veins made the pain bearable, but it was obvious how much she hated to  
see him suffer whenever the needle pierced his flesh.

After a few minutes the wound was mostly sewed off. Not an experts work but good enough for him.  
"Thank you. I appreciate the help." She was already back; helping him to wrap his arm with some bandages.  
How could she have such a good heart he wondered. "You know I can't feel pain." That was a  
surprising statement: "I really wish I could." Her sadness was overwhelming; was this really the  
same girl that just slaughtered an entire horde of wolves?  
"What makes you say that?"  
She looked at him with big eyes: "All those feelings... They make you feel alive don't they? The wind, the cold,  
I can't feel any of that. I just wish I was human enough to feel more of them."  
"It is not the body that makes you human. That part is entirely up to you. And if you really  
want to, I'm sure there is a way out there that could turn you fully human again."  
"You really think?" "Of course"  
"If we succeed in this journey, do you promise me to help me find this way?"  
He locked eyes with her:

"I promise."

The sun rose over the horizon wrapping their world into warm light as they sat there together.


	4. Chapter 4

_Disclaimer:_

_ I don't own the characters that I took from the original stories, I only claim ownership on the _

_ Characters and storytelling that has been invented and added by myself. _

_ If you happen to find any grammatically incorrect phrases, or just have some ideas to improve _

_ what I do here, feel free to message me._

_ Also be aware that my work might continue content that is not fitted for younger audiences or_

_ might even offend members of certain minorities, genders or communities. If you are not okay _

_ with that, please don't continue reading. Parental advisory is advised._

* * *

Poison

**The **warm sun caressed her face, slowly rising over the horizon. His shoulder felt soft underneath her cheek. She felt his slight movement every time he took a breath. His rhythmic breaths were faster than usual, most likely another consequence of his wounds. The pain he had to feel right now added to her guilt. There was no need for her to actually sleep, so why was she stupid enough to shut down during the night? That fight should have been hers, not his. For her these wounds weren't a thread at all, since her body could easily rebuild almost every nonlethal wound. But for him, every single blood loss didn't just mean a lot of pain but also the risk of death. If that really happened she wouldn't know what to do or where to go. It felt bad to admit it, but without his lead she was lost out here. And there was this feeling that he gave her. His company… She hadn't felt like that for years, to be exact since the day she met Hugo. Thinking of him brought back a lot of feelings. Mostly pain and even more guilt. She still felt responsible for not being able to save him from himself. Years had passed by now but still she wasn't entirely over him. His soft voice spooked around in her head telling her he loved her. To let him go. To take revenge on those that murdered him and leave a real legacy for all innocents that suffered like he did. When he was still around it had been the happiest days of her life. Then they took him away from her, drove him into madness and killed him. That day she bathed the city in the blood of those responsible, even though they were all just puppets to the everwatching Nero. Since that day it had been her main goal to take him down for good. But when the situation between the residents of Iron City would get worse every day, she decided to make her way to find a new home for all those that were willing to escape the terrors within the city walls.

A warm hand wiped over her face, his hand. She hadn't even noticed the tears running down her cheeks. For just a few seconds his hand stayed where it was until he lowered it again. It was moments like this when he reminded her of Hugo the most. His caring attitude and his pure optimism were something only few could obtain in a world this hopeless. Whenever she lost her faith he would rebuild it. She only hoped for him to never lose someone like she did. Broken hearts made people vulnerable for hate, anger and even worse things. After encountering all of those there was no one she wanted to live through something like that themselves. But this world was merciless towards all those that had to make a living within it. Maybe somewhere out there was real hope for them all; Alita tried to negate her doubts, see the good part of it. But there was nothing positive for her to see. A few more minutes passed, until he slightly touched her arm and told her they should get going. They left the battlefield behind them and began once again to climb their way over the broken constructs. The daylight made it easier for them to find their way over the bridge and slowly but steady the kilometers passed underneath their feet. It was almost noon when the first spot of green became visible in the distance. Hope grew inside her and they both raised their speed. Then, before the trees appeared fully on the shore, a sudden shadow passed over her head. Just a second later the sounds of thunder filled the air, causing her to look upwards. But there was nothing there except a small cloud making its way in a straight line across, splitting the perfect blue sky in two parts. He seemed to have noticed the cloud as well: "That's a contrail!" his excitement was clearly visible. "Those belong to planes!" he added when he saw her questioning face. Planes. She had heard about those before. Huge machines even bigger than all the vehicles in Iron City, which their priors had used to rule the sky with and travel this world quickly. These days though, there was no human crazy enough to try and fly those. So the only people that knew how it was up there were those that lived in the sky city itself. But if the people out here had already reclaimed the sky, it must mean they were civilized. And even better… There were actual people out here.

Newly motivated the two made their way towards the coast. When getting closer the first thing they noticed was a small trail of smoke making its path into the endless sky. Then a roof became visible and finally, at the end of the bridge, they could see a little farm. The house itself wasn't very big. In fact it appeared rather small, with stone walls and a wooden frame. Around it were fields that had corn, wheat and many other plants plentiful growing in the sun. And between these crops, a few people were working, cutting grass, watering plants and harvesting fruits. All of them wore similar outfits, plain shirts, blue pants and huge straw hats. If one wouldn't look close enough he might easily think they were scarecrows. Close up though, they were busily roaming around, not hurrying but rather slow, as if they had all the time in the world. Alita turned around for her companion, but he didn't seem to share her excitement. He held his arm close to his body as if he was in pain. His skin had turned unnaturally pale and his lips appeared bluish. Even his usually smooth way of walking had turned clumsy. He looked at her, his eyes darkened by pain. When his legs gave in, Alita had already covered half the distance between them and even managed to catch him before he hit the concrete. Panic rose inside her. Whatever just happened she had to do something quick. His short and erratic breaths, his weight inside her arms. His arm! That had to be it. The wound that the beast tore had been quite deep. Could it be that he had suffered lethal injuries during that fight? She carefully laid him onto the ground and started to tear apart the makeshift bandages. The hole in his arm gaped wide open and the crusted blood around it was slightly green colored. It had to be some kind of poison! Hope germinated within her, when she remembered the small bottle of medicine Professor Ido had given those that had been bitten by snakes or stung by scorpions. She recalled him talk about this antidote many times which he had called anticine. Alita started to frantically look through his gear until she found the small red box with the white cross on it. She ripped open the zipper, looking for anything helpful. Inside were a few small bottles each labeled in small letters. None of them had the word on it that she was looking for. A few more bottles and syringes filled with a clean red liquid fell into her lap. Blood? Not that wasn't possible. Alita grabbed the first one and read the label: "Neutroniumdicintrin" Clearly not what she was looking for. Fear started to cloud her thoughts as she kept searching the bag. "Hey there fellas." the scratchy voice behind her caused her to spin around, her hand on the handle of her sword. "Oi! Calm down lady! I ain't trying to hurt you." The voice belonged to an elderly man, maybe around seventy. His skin had a dark taint to it and his lower face was covered by long grey beard. His clothes matched the ones she saw earlier on the farmers and in his left hand he held a small pipe. "Well, if ya aren't gon cut me in half lady, I think we might be able to help your friend here. Got bitten didn't he?" He seemed to have noticed her surprised look. "Aye, don't worry we can deal with that. Almost no one here ain't got bitten yet. Darn beasts just wont stop coming." Alita caught herself. "Yes! Please if you can help him, do it!" "Alright then lady." He sat down next to him and took a look at the wounds. "Ay! These are quite deep." When he noticed her scared glimpse he added: "Doesn't mean we can't deal with it. We have had way worse here. Alita watched as he picked her companion up and started to slowly walk towards the house. She collected their bags and ran after him. He moved surprisingly fast even with the additional weight and Alita almost had issues keeping up with him. When they got closer to the house she noticed how big it actually was. Heavy wooden beams made a solid frame that was then surrounded by stone walls. There were flowers planted on the small windowsills which gave a great finishing touch to the framed glass covering the many open windows all around the building. Behind some of them Alita noticed faces. They were just slightly snitching out, trying to make sure they weren't noticed and whenever she looked towards them they would quickly disappear. The old man walked towards a big door, until a younger man stepped in front of him. "What are you doing? Why did you bring the strangers here? I thought we agreed on avoiding them!?" His voice and his face were both marked by a mixture of fear and anger. "They need help. And we won't send anyone away that requires help." The older man was almost one inch smaller than his adversary and still the younger man seemed uncomfortable to confront him. "Father we don't even know who they are, neither what they want out here. Also no person survives out here just like that! And she isn't even ... human!" He pointed towards Alita but the old man grabbed his hand. "We are good people and we are going to help those in need! Keep in mind what would Jesus do. As long as they don't harm us we are no enemies. Now step aside and get your mother!" For just a few seconds it seemed as if the young man was going to contradict, then he turned around and dashed through the door into the house. "I am really sorry for my son. He is still young and also a little reckless you know." They made their way into the house past a few heavy wooden doors into a small room with a single bed and an old wooden rocker in it. Faded sunlight fell through the window, covering the entire room into a yellowy light. The old man laid her companion onto the bed just when an elderly woman entered the room. Her grey hair was tied up in a bun and her face was marked by laughter lines. She wore a long white apron and in one hand she held a big brown bag. "This is my wife, Maria. She is going to take care of your friend. Also my name is Abraham. Mind to tell us how they call you?" "Alita." Well Alita, if you want you can stay here with your friend, but you can also get to know the others first and then maybe eat something? Don't worry, Maria is going to take good care of him." The old woman smiled friendly while she unpacked all kinds of herbs from her bag. She was thorough as if she had done this many times before. Alita decided to leave him alone with the old woman and followed Abraham through the door. Behind a second door they entered a way bigger room, its walls were covered in furs and shelves and in the middle of the room stood a huge wooden table, surrounded by smaller wooden blocks that served as chairs. One side of the room had tools, a stove and other kitchen furniture while the opposite side was only disturbed by a huge window covering the room in bright sunlight. On top of the big table was a big iron pot filled with soup, while around it, on the smaller woodblocks, there were six other people sitting, chatting and eating. Three of them were young men maybe around their thirty, all of them with the same black hair and  
rough-edged faces. Alita recognized one of them to be the one that called her "non-human" earlier. On the other side of the table were three young women most likely younger than their male equals. They also shared the same black hair that all the boys had but the main difference were their eyes. While the boys all had brown eyes, the girls' eyes were unusual bright green. When Alita entered the room, all conversations stopped and everybody turned towards her. "Well, this is the rest of my family. I think you already met my oldest son. This is Adélin. He pointed towards the man that blocked the door earlier. "And these two are Lúcian and Márian. And over here are my daughters Elena, Liana and Oana. Kids, this here is Alita. She and her friend are going to stay here for now. I expect you to treat them with respect." He looked at Adélin especially during his last sentence. Everyone watched her as she sat down on one of the free seats. Abraham grabbed one of the bowls, filled it with soup and placed it in front of her. He himself took a seat on the opposite side of the table. "Why don't you tell us what the two of you are doing out here? This isn't exactly the area you want to travel in if you ask me." So Alita told them her story. She told them about Iron City, the outskirts, the destroyed city, their travel across the ocean and finally their hope to find a new place for the people to live in. When she came to the part where she told them about the beasts, nervous whispering started between the family members until the old man disrupted it. Except for that small disturbance there was silence while she talked. It seemed incredible to the young people that there was so much out there and whenever she described something new to them, the air was almost humming in excitement. Just when Alita finished her story, the old woman entered the room. "Is he okay?" It was surprisingly hard for her to suppress the fear in her voice. "He is going to heal just fine my child. Just give him some time okay?" The old woman took a seat and after Alita told her story for a second time the family started to leave the table. Maria showed her a small room to sleep in but after she left Alita decided to go back into the room her companion was lying in. She laid down right next to him on the bed, simply enjoying his warmth and safety. When the old man entered the room and extinguished the small candle, she was already asleep.


	5. Chapter 5

_Disclaimer:_

_ I don't own the characters that I took from the original stories, I only claim ownership on the _

_ Characters and storytelling that has been invented and added by myself. _

_ If you happen to find any grammatically incorrect phrases, or just have some ideas to improve _

_ what I do here, feel free to message me._

_ Also be aware that my work might continue content that is not fitted for younger audiences or_

_ might even offend members of certain minorities, genders or communities. If you are not okay _

_ with that, please don't continue reading. Parental advisory is advised._

* * *

** Autors Notes: Wow, this chapter took me way too long to finish. But fortunately this is going exactly into the direction I want this to go into. And everytime I write something new down, it seems like five new ideas appear in my head for some reason. If this continues I probably need to start making a notebook just for ideas. This is irrelevant, lets move on. If you enjoy please review, it means a lot to me. **

Old friends, old enemies

**The** next day started at cockcrow, before even the first light fell into the small room. It took Alita a few minutes before she recalled all that had happened. Quickly she realized all the things around her. With her left she was holding his hand and her face was only inches away from his. She could feel the slight breeze of air every time he breathed. He looked so peaceful at that moment, she couldn't help herself off slightly moving her hand across his face, following down the scar all the way. Except for a small twitch he didn't show any reaction at all but his skin felt warm and familiar.

She must have laid there for quite a while until somebody knocked on the door. The door opened, giving sight on one of the young girls. Alita remembered her being called Elena by her father. In her hands, Elena held a tray that had two bowls of porridge on it. "My father said you might want something to eat." She stared at Alita with a mixture of fear and interest in her eyes. Telling the family her story might have taken most of the suspicion away, but the kids still seemed to be scared of what they didn't understand. It told a lot about them to still grant them shelter and help and Alita was eager for a chance to return the favor. The young woman took her chance, left the tray on the bed and quickly exited the room, before Alita was even able to thank her properly.

Alone again, she grabbed one of the bowls and tried a spoonful of the brown pulp. It tasted wonderfully sweet and fruity and before she really noticed, she had already emptied the bowl. It didn't take her long to empty the second bowl as well. He surely wouldn't mind, at least not while he was still asleep. Not knowing what to do next, Alita made her way outside, not without checking on her companion one last time. Once outside she found the entire family spread across the fields, each of them contributing their own small part. After a few minutes she managed to find Abraham between some huge sunflowers, clearing the ground of weeds. When he noticed her he would stop his work and turn towards her. "Did you enjoy your breakfast? I figured you might want something to eat." "I did a lot, thank you. Tell me, is there any way I can help you in return for your hospitality?" "Well we can always use help on the fields. Did you ever till a field before?" When Alita declined that, he told her to go look for Adélin and ask him to show her around.

She did just as he told her to, finding the young man behind the house between a few smaller shacks. He watched her as she came closer, his narrow eyes made obvious how annoyed he was. In the bright daylight, Alita firstly realized how tall he actually was. He surmounted her by at least two feet and since she was merely five feet tall, the height difference between them seemed even bigger. In his left hand he held a huge pitchfork that looked like a toothpick next to his arm. A trunk might have been the best possible comparison. Alita decided to try a friendly approach "Your father told me…" "I know what my father said. But I don't need you around here. So you can go and bother someone else how about that?" The way he treated her made her angry. She was not some child he could talk to like that. But before Alita was able to reply, the voice of the old man sounded from behind her: "Adélin! We talked about this! Quit it right now and do as you were told!" With these words the old man walked around the corner of the house again and gone he was. She turned back towards the giant. He didn't move at first, then grinned madly. Doing so he just looked evil. "There. You can go and clean the shacks. Also, let me give you a friendly advice: Get your friend and out of here immediately. If you don't I ensure you, you will wish you would have ran when you still had the chance." The petite cyborg considered beating the crap out of this outrageous human for a second, but decided not to. As long as the family granted them shelter she better didn't annoy them too much. She gave him a disgusted smile, showing she was not the slightest intimidated.

The day went by faster than she expected. She only cleaned the shacks for quite a short time before Lúcian fetched her and asked if she wanted to help him and his sisters storing big oak barrels down in the cellar. Alita gladly agreed, happy to get away from his unfriendly brother. Down in the cellar, she helped to move barrels and store foods and fruits inside them for the rest of the day. There wasn't much talking between the young people and the cyborg girl. Except for Lúcian who didn't seem to be able to stop talking the entire time no one was interested in starting a conversation.

When Alita came back into the chamber in the evening, time seemed to have paused inside the small room. Nothing in here moved for the slightest, not even he did. The girl blew out the candle and fell onto the bed. Within seconds she was asleep.

Hugo's face was right next to hers. It had been her first kiss and he was the only one she would want to share this moment with. He smiled slightly, his arm still wrapped around her. He held her tight, making her feel safe and warm. The dark leather jacket he was wearing was perfectly fitting him, only complimenting his dark hair and his shapely face. Alita felt the rain on her head and shoulders but it didn't bother her at all. There was no place that she would rather be in. His love was her bastion of calm. No matter what tore the world apart, as long as she was with him, her world was perfect. She looked him right into the eyes when they turned ice blue. He opened his mouth, but it wasn't him talking. It was the man she hated most. Nova. "Oh little flea. Did you really think you could run away from me? No distance is going to keep you safe. And no matter what you do, you will never be able to protect those you love. I will take it all from you and after that I will take you apart piece by piece until only your heart remains as a trophy." Then he laughed. This mad man laughed his maniac laugh, wearing the face of the person she loved. That was until his skin started to melt. Inside her arms, he slowly disintegrated, muscles, skin, leaving only a metallic skeleton behind. She watched helplessly as the last parts of his face disappeared. It left nothing but a blank robotic grimace, laughing at her, taunting her attempts to avoid what was going to happen. He looked down on himself, looking at the blade that emerged from his chest. It was her own blade, slightly glowing, held by her own hand. Alita pulled away from him, watching him as he slowly sank to his knees, his glowing blue eyes fading darker and darker. Dark blood ran out of his chest, across the blade, mixing up with the clean rainwater. His manic laugh was only barely drowned by the sound of the rain and tears blurred her vision as he died in front of here once more.

Alita started up from her sleep. She was still inside the farmhouse, nothing of that could have been real. Or could it? Everything seemed normal, but something had changed. The room was only enlightened by the small amount of light that fell into the window. She sat up and looked around the room. Everything was just the way it had been but the bed next to her was empty. Her companion had to be awake! That meant he must have recovered by now. Surprising it only took him two days. Her shoes made dull sounds on the hard ground as she left the bed, exiting through the half-open door into the hallway. She felt a slight breeze on her face, coming from the left ajar main door. A small screech resounded through the hallway as she opened the main door just enough to slip through. The cold air hit her like a train, causing the cyborg girl to shiver a little bit. No clouds covered the sky but still there was barely any light emitting from the slice of moon that was visible tonight. In the distance the large plants were moving with the wind, even the small grass seemed to take part in this weird kind of dance, waving from side to side. Along the fields and the trees all around her she noticed the metal construct in the distance, the bridge that they had come from. Finally, only a few meters away she saw a dark shape moving along one of the rocky paths.

He wore his black jacket and some camouflaged combat trousers. Military boots finished off his outfit making him look like the casual wannabe hunter warrior back in the city. The thoughts of that almost made her feel a little nostalgic. It might have been only about a month since she last saw any of them, but still she would love to hear of some of them again. Especially McTeague, the old dog handler, had always been one of her favorites. The girl quit thinking about the past, biting herself on the tongue and continued after her companion.

"Since when are you out here?" He flicked a little bit when she spoke up, but when he turned around he smiled mildly. "Not too long. Maybe a few minutes." A short pause occurred as none of the two said anything. "What about you? Can't sleep?" She noticed he still held his arm close to his chest, keeping it in a quiet position. The girl shook her head. "Just a nightmare, nothing to worry about. How comes you are awake already? The old woman that took care of your wounds told me you would sleep at least for a few more days." "Can't really answer that question to be completely honest with you. I just woke up and I felt good. Well, except for this." He lifted his arm a little bit just to grimace and lower it again. "Ouch. Stupid idea." Alita couldn't help herself off laughing, but stopped immediately when he looked at her grimly. "Not. Funny. At. All." "Hey it could have gone worse right?" Alita grinned. "You could have lost your entire body for example. Instead you got bitten." "True I guess. Also means I owe you. Really, I'm thankful that you actually helped me. Not really the way I wanted to go out. But there's something else I would like to share with you. We have been travelling together for quite a while now and as far as I'm concerned you saved my life. And during all that time you didn't even know my name." His name. This conversation just got interesting. She recalled when they first met, he insisted on keeping his name for himself. Multiple times the young girl had been wondering what his name might be, or even more interesting, why he was so keen on keeping it a secret. In fact even Ido had been pretty surprised since no one seemed to have known the name of her now-companion. And Ido knew a lot of things and even more people around scrap iron city. For just a second she recoiled a little bit thinking about her father and friend that had to be all alone in that god-forsaken place. Could Nova have done anything to him? In her dream he told her he would take those she loved from her, but that had been nothing but a nightmare right? "Ally? U alright?" He stared right into her eyes, looking a little bit concerned. She nodded, shoving those thoughts away from her. She had to concentrate on what happened right now and here. Otherwise she might drift off again, just like back in the days, only short time after she had lost Hugo to the madness of Scrap Iron City. STOP! This was not the time to mourn. The cyborg girl closed her eyes, took a deep breath and opened them again. "If you want to tell me your name, I'd love to hear it." He nodded, leaned a little bit towards her and said a single word:

"Shenyen."

A shiver ran down her spine when she realized she had heard that name before.


	6. Chapter 6

_Disclaimer:_

_ I don't own the characters that I took from the original stories, I only claim ownership on the _

_ Characters and storytelling that has been invented and added by myself. _

_ If you happen to find any grammatically incorrect phrases, or just have some ideas to improve _

_ what I do here, feel free to message me._

_ Also be aware that my work might continue content that is not fitted for younger audiences or_

_ might even offend members of certain minorities, genders or communities. If you are not okay _

_ with that, please don't continue reading. Parental advisory is advised._

* * *

** Autors Notes: Wow, a new chapter this soon? Yeah I'm a little surprised myself but during the last days I felt super motivated to continue the story for some ****reason. Also I want to apologize for the story progressing this slow at the moment. I was not entirely sure how I could get where I wanted to get. Pretty ****sure there is gonna be a lot more happening from now on, so stay tuned for it. If you enjoy please  
****make sure to Review :)**

Mental Advantage

**The **Man in the white lab coat was furious; He had been running around his lab for days now, even more hectic than he usually was, always cursing and talking to himself. Two guards stood next to a big metal door, the entire remaining room was filled with machines of all kinds. Some of them were high-tech computers, others were rather old, but whatever machine you were looking for, there was no doubt it could be found in here. That is if you were able to find it. In the few spots where there were no machines standing, the ground was covered in cables and conduits. Every now and then one of the machines would start making sounds and the humming of electricity filled the room continuously. Some white colored lamps on the ceiling brought a bright, sterile light into the room.

And in between this chaos, the man in the lab coat cursed and roamed around. He was, indeed, someone important. His name was doctor Desty Nova, the smartest and probably craziest man in all of Zalem. The doctor was almost two meters tall, grey hair covering his head. His eyes reflected his genius, but every keen observer would notice the lunacy inside them as well. His tall shade was covered by a lab coat that might have been white once, but by now was stained in brownish colors. His face showed signs of his age as well as many marks due to experiments that didn't go quite as expected. He ran around between the machines, pushing a button here and pulling a lever there, his hands moving unbelievably fast over the different interfaces.

It was incredible that the little cyborg girl had ran away. He thought threatening her friends would make her stay. But apparently even that couldn't keep that stupid girl. Of course the girl he was thinking about was Alita. Years of time and preparing had just been thrown away when she left the city. At first he didn't realize it, until after a few days he had been informed about her absence. That was also the reason for his furiousness. The tech inside that cyborgs body was way too precious to just get lost in the desert. Oh, he cursed that girl. Somehow she still thought she was a real girl, but he knew exactly she was nothing but a weapon. Built to fight, built to destroy. That was not the reason he wanted her though. Weapons were useless to him. He could build them himself anyways, so why bother about using her as one? But this stupid little brat carried a highly efficient reactor core inside her, one of those kinds that he was not yet able to rebuild. Some of the few parts of old age tech that he really wanted to understand. Having a core like that would put him into a quite advantageous position towards everyone else.

The doctor left his lab, walked along the hallway, past all the other labs. Other scientists ran around hastily, talking to each other, taking notes or just heading into another room. Some of them greeted Dr. Nova as he passed by, but he didn't even notice them. They were all just pawns, only working because he couldn't afford to waste his time on their pathetic experiments. No one in here came even close to his genius therefore they didn't have anything to offer to him.. The hallway ended in a big metal door. On its left was a small keyboard, on which the doctor quickly typed in a few words, causing the door to open. Fluorescent lamps started up, slowly enlightening the room's interior. This one was almost empty, with deep grey walls and ceiling. In the middle of the room was a big metal plate and on that plate was a man, held in place by thick metal bonds. He was almost entirely robotic, only his left arm and his head were still human. The doctor clapped his hands and a small table emerged from the ground next to him. On it were scalpels, cables and many other chirurgic tools. Dr. Nova decided to go with one of the smaller knifes for now. There was more than enough time left to try every single tool at least once. He stepped closer to the plate. The man on the plate opened his right eye. The left one had already been cut out with perfect precision. His mouth opened as if he tried to say something. But that wasn't possible either since his tongue was missing as well. Dr. Nova remembered when he first came in here. The man, one of the less successful bounty hunters from the slums, had lied here, cursed him and told him he would never say a word. He let him talk for a few minutes until he cut off his tongue. He didn't need him to talk. There were way easier methods to get the information he wanted. With a satisfied grin, he nodded towards the door and both guards exited, closing the door behind them. Soon, his spies would return to him and then he would be able to get a hold of the stupid cyborg girl. Until then, there was no reason not to enjoy himself. As he drove the scalpel into the man's skin, he imagined the little girl screaming underneath his blade and smiled.

Alita took only a second to recover from the surprise. Anger floated through her veins as she began to see this man's true identity. With a smooth movement she unsheathed her blade and swung it around in a single strike aiming at his throat. The sword would have beheaded him if he wouldn't have thrown himself backwards, increasing the distance between them. "Ally! Let me explain!" There was no need for him to explain anything to her. The moment she realized where his name had its origin, she knew she would have to kill him. She leaped towards him, her thoughts filled by rage. Never before had she met him but still she had heard the stories. And she wanted to kill him. A lot.

Back in Scrap Iron City everyone that was older than five years knew the stories about Nova's right hand. The assassin and maverick that carried out almost all his battles until he disappeared a few years before Alita was gifted her new body by Doc Ido. Even Ido told her the stories about him: He had been one of the most deadly assassins ever to live within the city's hydro walls, but not just that, simply the fact that he had been working for Nova for such a long time was the best indicator for his madness. It was even said that it had been him who cut the huge cyborg Grewishka into pieces, before Nova saved Grewishka's life and turned him into the monster that he had been when Alita finally finished him off. After that, he vanished from sight, the last thing being heard about him was that Grewishka and a bunch of other people that had their own scores to settle with him went to kill him once and for all. Ido had told her that no one knew exactly what had happened that day. There was only one thing for sure. The only one to return was Grewishka himself. And by now? Well, most people thought of it as a fairytale, a story to tell the kids whenever they wouldn't behave. "Shenyen is going to come get you, if you don't behave." Even Ido said that to her once, but she had only laughed and sworn to kill this man in case she was ever to meet him.

Her feet hit the ground in front of him and without hesitation the blade inside her hand cut the air, this time aimed to slice him in half. But once again, he moved out of its range way quicker than she expected. "You really are not going to listen are you? Well then. Let's fight." That was unexpected. Not that it mattered but she respected his choice to die trying instead of running away. Still, he would never be able to challenge her. No human could accomplish that. It amused her how he still seemed this overconfident. The cyborg girl sheathed her blade and moved into an aggressive stance. She didn't need her blade to kill him anyway, so she would grant him the mercy of a fair fight. If you could even call it that. Now he was barely 2 feet away from her, his arms raised in front of his upper body. Her fist shot forward, with probably enough speed to obliterate massive steel. He moved fast, way faster than he was supposed to. With his left he caught her wrist in the air, led her force around his body. As her feet left the ground he immediately ducked down and Alita flew, her own strength and speed used against her. As she hit the ground a few feet behind him, her thoughts were racing. Not only had he just dodged her, no, he would have even hurt her if it weren't for her metal body. It had only been a simple throw that anyone could have accomplished and still his flawless execution and the fact that she had not been prepared for him to actually react this fast had cost her this easy hit. She flipped back onto her feet and turned around. "I really don't want to hurt you Alita. Let me explain everything to you and I promise if you still want to kill me afterwards, I won't resist." There was almost something similar to regret in his eyes for a second, until he went back to a cold stare. It still surprised her that he had been able to strike against her but this time she was going to be prepared. The young man watched her attentively as she prepared herself to take him down once and for all. He had taken a slightly defensive stance, but this time he left no doubt that he actually had a lot of experience in one-on-one combat. A solid stand, both arms raised, covering up every weaker point. Still, his left arm was wounded. Alita was sure he wouldn't be able to block a strike she led against him either, so there were only two options left for him. To dodge her or to attack first. For a few seconds no one moved, both scanning their opponent for possible weaknesses. She wondered what he might be thinking when he moved his right hand. It only took an instant but Alita noticed a small silver flash traveling through the air. The girl stepped to the left, evading the small knife by just a millimeter. Still she couldn't avoid it carving a small scratch into her arm, barely enough to even be noticeable. She smiled as her body healed itself within seconds. As she raised her head again he had already gone back to a rather relaxed posture. He even smiled lightly, just as if he thought he had won this fight already. But Alita wasn't done yet. She took two steps towards him to pounce into one last devastating kick. But before she even left the ground her legs gave in underneath her.

Every last bit of power seemed to have been drawn out of her body. She wasn't even able to lift her arms as the ground came closer rapidly. An inch before she hit the ground her fall stopped all of a sudden. To her left she heard an exhausted groan. He must have caught her before she hit the ground. "Good lord Alita, you are heavy. What on earth did you eat?" Shenyen laughed a little bit, amused over his own joke. "What did you do? Why can't I move? TELL ME!" Panic manifested inside her heart as she realized there was nothing she could do. The only thing that seemed to be still working were her eyes and mouth. Her entire body was numb. "It is quite simple. A little bit of Neutroniumdicintrin can disable almost any electronic circuit within seconds. You see, sometimes it's not strength that is required to win a fight. Every now and then more advanced equipment will even beat your mere strength." He moved her towards the house and leaned her against the wall. There was nothing she could do, her body wouldn't move no matter how hard she tried. So she watched him as he turned around to look for his knife. He quickly found it and returned to her. Without any hustle he sat down in front of her, crossed his legs and smiled. It was not an angry or mad smile though, instead he smiled that someone would look at a cheeky child. "Well, I know you are probably really mad at me now. But again, I never wanted to harm you. People keep reacting this way once they hear my name, and I guess you now know why I didn't want to tell you at first." "What do you want from me? Bring me back to Nova? Is that why you are here?" He laughed. This fool dared to laugh about her. "Oh Alita. Why on earth would I do that?" "Because you are his right hand. You serve him don't you?" "Well I did, that much is true. And honestly I can't decline that I have quite a bad reputation for a good reason. But… let me start from the beginning. Maybe you will be able to understand me afterwards." He pulled out a rag and started to clean the knife in his hand. Then he stopped again, looked her in the eyes and resumed to talk: "A few years before you first appeared, Nova was looking for someone to do his dirty work. So he hired me. I worked almost three years for him. Assassinations, Scout missions, he named it, I took care of it. In return I had access to a lot of money and even more tech that he had recovered. This way I learned things about the old ages as well as our current time tech. That's also where the poison came from that ended our little disagreement." He stopped there as if he was waiting for a reaction. When Alita didn't say anything he continued: "This went on for quite a while. Until the fateful day that I met Grewishka. He was my target to kill that day, so far quite easy. But once Nova had gotten a hold of this psychopaths head, it took him only days to turn him into that … that monstrosity. And then, all of a sudden, I had become expendable. That was when he decided to get rid of me. Grewishka must have agreed quickly, eager to get his revenge on me, so one evening he and a bunch of other scum made their way to kill me. But at that point, I had already been warned by an old friend, who you might have known as Vector. Don't worry, he deserved just what you brought over him. Anyway, when Grewishka and his little squad arrived at where I was supposed to be, I had been long gone. So Grewishka slaughtered everyone in the most impressive paroxysm I have ever seen. And there I was. An outcast. The residents hated me for what I had done and Nova himself wanted my head. So I stayed out of the city for quite a while, and when I returned, Grewishka was dead and Nova was busy hunting someone else. You. The rest of the time consisted of hiding in plain sight and smaller jobs to keep my head above water. Of course I made sure to observe people that might cause problems later. Again, you were one of them. Until the day that you looked for people to join you on your journey. Well, I guess you know the rest of the story."

During the entire story, he didn't break eye contact with her a single time. Alita wasn't sure what to do next. On one hand she still wanted to kill him badly, on the other hand she could use someone like him on her side. At least in case he could actually be trusted. "Why did you really join me out here then?" "Isn't that obvious? For once I would like a place that I can get a restart in and at the same moment, once you left the city, Nova would have a lot more time to do other things. How long do you think would it take him to realize I was in the city all along? As much as I enjoy the thrill of the hunt, I prefer not to be the prey myself." So what? Would she be able to just move on knowing he had been Nova's associate? Alita believed him. He was the enemy of her enemy but was he really a friend then? A decision had to be made here. In her situation she wanted him to at least believe she was on his side. If anything would happen, she could still backstab him. "Alright. I won't kill you for now." "Not like you could?" He still had that superior grin, this time it was in a nice way though. Apparently he didn't blame her at all for trying to kill him. "Please. Can you just restore my strength now?" "Of course, but first would you mind telling me why Nova is hunting you? I mean I heard the stories but I just can't figure out what makes him want you." "My heart." "Your heart? I thought you didn't have one." He pulled out a black hard shell case from his pocket, about the size of a pencil. It snatched open, giving sight on a small needle inside. Shenyen grabbed it cautiously, removed its safety cap and pricked it into Alitas arm. She didn't even feel the needle but her power started to return almost immediately. At first her arm, then her upper body and finally her legs as well. The girl sprung to her feet, grabbing the young man by his throat lifting him straight up from the ground. Shenyen struggled inside her grip, but he was not a match for her at all. Alita saw red, every fiber of her body told her to kill him right here and now. Without any effort she kept him off the ground, watching him struggle for air. "I do have a heart." She pulled him closer until her face was right next to his. "It's just not human. And if you ever use that stuff on me again, you better make sure I never recover from it." That said, she dropped him back to the ground. He fell onto his knees, coughing and gasping for air. She felt like kicking him a few times, just for the fun of it. "I guess that should be a lesson then." He raised up, looked at her then turned around. "Don't get too unwary though." With these words he disappeared into the dark, leaving her wondering if she had made the right decision.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer

I don't own the content in this fiction except for everything I invented and added to the story myself.

Reader Information:

Everything that happens in this story is based on the recently released movie. Every manga/series has been ignored as well as any information provided in them.

If you find any grammatically incorrect parts feel free to message me, improvements can always be made. Also, be aware that this series will contain blood/gore as well as actions that might be offensive towards ethnic minorities, gender identities and several other potentially sensitive topics. If you do not agree on this, do yourself a favor and don't read any further. Parental guidance is recommended for those at a certain age.

Author's Note

Wow, so this is my first story here. I will try to update it at least once every month, to provide some reading material for those that are interested in this story. If you enjoy reading this, please review, as that is something that really means a lot to the authors. No matter if it's critics or just general appreciation, every review is an unbelievable motivation to keep going on. ENJOY!

Huge credit to **Cait the Bookworm **for betareading and correcting.

**Hey all together. It is me with some very important things to tell you. I am for the moment discontinuing this story. I just cant find the motivation to keep writing this story at the moment. I might be uploading some other stories but I am mainly betareading at the moment. I hope I can continue this story one day, but that day is sadly not today. Hopefully you guys can forgive me for that. Now here comes the last chapter...**

* * *

Telón

"Nova is the dragon that must be slain."

The words of her long dead teacher echoed inside Alita's head as she slowly moved through her exercises. The dragon she was to slay was still alive. She thought that winning motorball would allow her to move on to Zalem and take out Nova. But instead he interfered at the last second, making sure that she would never make it up there.

Since that day, all her efforts had only lead to small achievements. Whenever she thought an opportunity had opened, Nova would cut it off, always a step ahead of her. Leaving the city appeared to be the first thing he hadn't been able to predict.

And now she was out here, many a hundred kilometers away from Zalem, and still she was accompanied by one of his former henchmen. It didn't suit her at all to travel together with an accomplice of that monster, even though he didn't work with him anymore. When he had told her the truth a few days ago, she had almost killed him. And still, he was alive right now, attentively watching her from a few meters away.

He sat atop of the bike they had gotten from the farmer's family. When they left their home two days ago, Abraham had given it to them, hoping it would help them to travel faster and safer. The machine seemed to have grown on Shenyen right away; he basically used all of his spare time to repair the vehicle. It looked similar to the monowheels in the Iron City, but this one had two wheels and the seat in between. Alita finished her exercise and walked over to him. He took the driver's seat and started the bike. Alita sat down on the shotgun seat just behind Shenyen, as the engine rumbled to life.

The bike made travelling through the solitude way easier. Underneath the tires, the desert just flew away, accompanied by the constant sounds of the engine. For hours they drove through the wasteland, away from the ocean, and further into the unknown.

It was past noon already when a giant pillar appeared in the horizon. At first Alita took it for a hallucination of some kind, but the closer they came, the more obvious it became. It wasn't a pillar- it was really one of the sky cities. This one had not survived the war many years ago, as it had crashed down, resulting in why it was now stuck halfway in the ground. For kilometers around the city was a crater, most likely caused by the force of the impact. The city reminded her a lot of Zalem, being similar in both structure and size. Only this one was completely destroyed, left in ruins.

The sight of this city felt known. She felt as if she had achieved a lifelong goal, seeing this city being torn into pieces. Had she maybe been here before? Had she been a part of this attack as well?

Shenyen stopped the bike, removing his safety glasses with the same movement: "Holy fucking shit!"

These words were the first thing either of them said since they left the farm. He had been as taciturn as usual and she was still too pissed off to try and start any conversation with him.

"I guess this is what you were searching for."

He grabbed his pack, pulled out some binoculars and held them up to his eyes. For a few seconds he stared through them, scanning the area surrounding the city.

"What? What do you see?"

Alita had issues keeping still on the bike all of a sudden. She wanted to explore this new city, and find out if there was something like the scrapyard here as well, maybe get to know the people here. He handed her the binoculars without a word. She took a look at the destruction all around her. At some places the remains of the city were still visible. Something must have stopped the fall of this city, otherwise everything around them would have been wiped out entirely.

"It's not very likely that there is anyone still alive in this dump."

His words fanned her worst fears. But he didn't have a spark of doubt within his voice.

"This is not going to be the place you are looking for. I'm quite sure there has never even been such a thing as the scrapyard here. Whatever lived underneath this city was destroyed when it fell. Just like all the others did. I just wonder why Zalem is still standing. There doesn't seem to be much of a difference between them. Wait a second. You said you were a part of the attack on Zalem. Does that mean you were here as well?"

"No."

She shook her head.

"At least I can't remember being here before. But others like me could have been here that day."

He barely reacted, but just for a second, she thought she saw his hand moving towards his weapon.

"We should get closer. See if there is anything left in there."

"Wait what? Why would you even think of that? Everything in there has obviously been should move on, get some more distance done before nightfall. If we really go down there, we lose at least five hours."

"And? There is no schedule we need to keep track of, and I want to be sure there is no-one here before we leave. It could take us forever to find an opportunity like this again."

She expected him to object to her statement, but with his eyes towards the destroyed city, he shook his head, sighed and put his glasses back on. Alita took it as an acknowledgement. She held on to him as he restarted the bike and started to descend into the crater.

It took them almost an entire hour to get down to the borders of the city. Moving between the obstacles made it hard to go fast on the bike. Upon reaching the outer ring of the city, they decided to leave the bike and progress by foot.

Around them, destroyed buildings covered the ground. Being here felt lost and lonely. Surrounded by the huge buildings, they roamed around the devastated city for quite a while. She had almost lost her hope to find anything, but was surprised as his voice sounded through the streets.

"ALITA! You might want to look at this!"

Alita turned towards the voice and quickly found him, hunkered down over something on the ground. She got closer to get a look at what it was. It took her a second or two to realize what was lying in the dirt here, but when she did, it hit her like a sledgehammer.

Before them laid the body of a woman, however it was _not_ a human body. Instead, it was a completely robotic girl, with a body made from metal and light purple muscle fiber. This was a berserker: just like her. The armor this cyborg had been wearing was torn apart, one arm missing completely. But most importantly, where her heart was supposed to be, was now a hole, gaping wide open. Alita stretched out her hand, removing some of the dirt off the body. When she wiped over her face, two silvery stripes became visible underneath the dead berserker's eyes.

"One day, you will all get the opportunity to earn these yourselves. Until then, I expect every one of you to train twice as hard. Especially you, Ninety-Nine."

The flash of memories surprised her as Alita stumbled back. This corpse belonged to someone she might have known once. An old friend, maybe even a member of her family. She tried to impress the face into her head, tried to remember, but there was still just a blank nothing.

"So she was just like you?"

His voice pulled her back into reality.

"Did you know her before... you know..."

"The fall?"

The young man nodded.

"I don't know. I knew someone who wore the same marks... "

"The marks of a Panzerkunst master."

Alita turned her head towards him.

"How do you know that?"

Shenyen just shrugged.

"I heard some stories. Anyways, you were saying?"

Suspicion crawled up on Alita. She was pretty sure he was not telling the truth. If only she could be sure whether or not he was worthy of her trust. It would make this so much easier for her.

"I just think that one of the people I remember- a soldier- wore these exact same marks. I just can't tell if that's her."

"That's got to be hard for you. To be the only one of your kind, without your memories, without family."

His voice had that well known empathy, the same one that usually made her feel safe. But right now she didn't need empathy. Alita was angry. So many people that he and his master had been the death-bringers of. And yet he dared to stand here and still breathe.

"I don't need your sympathy! I had a family and Nova took it from me! ALL OF THIS IS HIS FAULT! EVERY SINGLE DEATH DURING THE WAR AND EVERYONE WHO DIED AFTERWARDS! ALL OF IT BECAUSE OF THAT MONSTER! AND YOU! YOU HELPED HIM! YOU ARE JUST AS MAD AS HE IS! AND EVERY DAY YOU LIVE ON THIS WORLD IS A DAY THAT YOU SHOULD BE SPENDING NOWHERE BUT IN HELL!"

She started to regret her words right after she had said them. Of course it was not his fault. He was probably a good person. In contrast to all the other hunter warriors, he had been the only one that agreed to go with her into the unknown, even without a reward awaiting. And he stuck with her all this time. Not even her attempts to kill him had made him leave. She stared at him, waiting for a reaction. He slightly smiled but his eyes had turned emotionless. What had she been thinking?

"I'm sorry."

She started.

"I didn't mean to… "

"It's okay."

He lifted one hand in a stop gesture.

"Don't apologize to me. I know about the mistakes I made. And some day, I will have to make amends without any doubt. But that day is not today."

His voice was ice cold.

"And it is not on you to judge me."

She was able to see the truth in his statement. She hadn't been much of a better person either. But still, she was at least trying to do the right thing. Alita decided to change the subject before he would have any chance to think further.

"Why did you help him in the first place?"

Her question seemed to surprise him but he answered, having also seemed to have mostly forgotten about the last topic.

"Well, he offered me good payment. And working with him, I got access to so much more tech than anyone else could have offered me. I have never been able to study as much old age technology as I could during that time."

"Sounds to me as if you would like to go back to working with him."

Her inflection had a cold breeze to it, indicating the way she still judged him for his past.

"I considered it. After Grewishka fell, he was indeed looking for someone new to replace him. But I wasn't around at that time and by the time I came back into the city, he had already found someone else."

"So you weren't needed. Aren't you angry he just threw you away?"

"Of course I was. But what use would there be in wasting my time hunting someone that hurt me once. If I lived like that, I would have to be chasing after half the scrapyard. But I don't. And neither should you or anyone else."

Alita shook her head.

"I was built only to kill him. That is my entire purpose in this world after all."

He shrugged.

"I guess so, but… Don't you ever get tired of fighting? I'm sure somewhere inside you there is a human being, not just a machine?"

It was a statement but he enounced it so that it more like a question. He didn't seem sure about his statement.  
The cyborg girl lowered her head, slightly closing her eyes and just kept silent for a few minutes straight.  
As she finally spoke again, her voice was a little gloomy:

"There is a part of me that doesn't want to cause any more pain to others, doesn't want to see the endless suffering in this world. That side of me doesn't want to fight anymore. But whenever I had woken up, I had to see the people I love suffer from all the cruelty within the Iron City. And the ones responsible live far up in Zalem, without ever being held accountable for any of their crimes."

"So you fight to protect the ones you love? I remember the Doc but I can't possibly imagine you are chasing Nova all this time just because he threatens you and your family. To me, your hunt sounds like an act of revenge."

The second Shenyen said this, he knew from her reaction that his thinking had been right. She wanted to avenge someone by killing Nova. The memories flooded Alita's head as soon as she thought of him. A wonderful warm smile, his kind ways, even his flaws. He might have not been a perfect person but he had been perfect to her. She recalled the last time she had been together with him before he had left her alone forever. Grief and guilt had been lurking, waiting for her to lower her guard ever since she had locked her feelings away. After Hugo had fallen, she had conquered her grief by locking it away and instead letting her anger drive her.

Her father, Doctor Ido hadn't appreciated that change. He tried to talk her out of her plans many times and even refused to help her multiple times. And over the years, their relationship had deteriorated, becoming worse and worse.

"I can't help but wonder Alita: Who do you want to avenge?"

She looked up as he approached her, tears blurring her sight.

"His name was Hugo. He was the best person I ever met."

And without even really wanting to, she told him all about Hugo. The time she had spent with him, his dreams, her dreams, everything. Once the first words had left her mouth, it felt better the more she told him. And Shenyen... well he was the perfect audience. He neither disrupted her nor made comment. He was engrossed in every word she uttered.

"...and now, the one thing I want as much as for him and me to be reunited, is to slaughter the one responsible."

It felt as if a real burden had been taken off her shoulders. He now knew everything about her relationship with Hugo, her search for revenge and her urge to bathe all of Zalem in blood.

But would he judge her the way Ido did? Declare her desires to be bad for her and everyone else?

"Wow. Now I see why you want to kill Nova this badly. I'm sure one day you will succeed where everyone else failed. Remember just one thing: Only if you stay in command over your feelings, will you be able to succeed. Staying in control is not the same as keeping them away from you. If you can't keep the control over your feelings when you face him, he will have a way to use your feelings against you."

Alita was not sure if she understood what he was trying to say with that. But she knew she had to ask now.

"There is something I need to know."

She looked him right in the eyes as she asked him the one question that had been burning inside her ever since he told her his story.

"Can I really trust you?"

A short pause occurred before he started to speak:

"You know, before we left the Iron City…"

He was never supposed to end that sentence, as a loud growl filled the air around them. Shenyen was on his feet within a second, one weapon in each hand. Alita joined him, her sword at the ready.

The growl became louder as two vehicles appeared between the buildings, heading straight towards them. They were all heavily armored, with mounted weapons on their roofs and manned with multiple soldiers. Every one of them wore a bulky black armor, probably some kind of Kevlar. Black helmets featuring red tinted eyes covered their faces.

The trucks stopped, trapping the two in between them, multiple guns pointed at them. Without anyone giving commands the armed men swarmed out and quickly closed off all gaps. The soldiers moved with the precision and speed of a highly experienced unit. Silence returned to the battlefield as they stopped moving, waiting for whatever was next to happen.

As far as Alita could see, they were all humans. That meant they wouldn't be hard to beat. Heat flowed through her body as blue flames covered the sword in her hand. She couldn't see the expressions on their faces as it happened, but she noticed the commotion between them.

A manic smile appeared on her face as she imagined how this victory would taste when she had sliced through all of them. Her sight started to slowly blur as she simmered with excitement for this battle. Just when she didn't think she would be able to hold herself back anymore, Shenyen placed his hand on her shoulder.

It was a calming gesture, but his grip was firm. He pushed her hand downwards, further away from an attack stance and as her thoughts cleared out, her sword cooled down equally. His face showed warm understanding but he was clearly committed to not fight right now.

Another soldier exited one of the cars. This one was clearly a woman, wearing the same kind of armor, just slightly changed for a better fit. She didn't wear a helmet and a small pigtail of her platinum blonde hair fell over her shoulder. Her black eyes examined the two as she stepped closer; a rifle at the high port.

Her stance was firm, military and her entire appearance indicated her leadership role. Her voice made clear she demanded respect as she approached Shenyen.

"You. Who are you and what are you doing here?"

Shenyen noticed everything around him at once. His thoughts split up in two stories; one of them scanned over every soldier and weapon around them, trying to figure out every single option he had from this point on. The other part of his mind kept the conversation going, as to not cause any suspicion.

He slightly raised his palms in a surrendering gesture.

"My name is Shenyen and this here is Alita. We are travelers, we came from a city a long journey away from here."

Fifteen soldiers were around them, all armed with rifles. Medium caliber but hard to tell without a closer look. Plus the two armored cars. The guns on those would be quite the problem. High caliber without doubt. He was not willing to find out what they were capable of doing.

"We come from one of the floating cities, Zalem."

Alita added.

"We don't mean any of you harm, we are merely here to find a better place to live for others."

The woman looked at Alita with incomprehension, then back at Shenyen.

"Did that thing just address me?" Anger vibrated through her voice.

The sudden change of mind surprised him but he reacted appropriate right away.

_"That thing"? Could it be possible cyborgs weren't appreciated here? For now Alita needs to stand down._

"I am truly sorry, sometimes she forgets her place here." At the same time he stared at Alita making sure she wouldn't say anything else. Once he was sure she had understood he turned back towards the woman.

"You better make sure something like that doesn't happen ever again. Others here aren't as forgiving as I am."

_Noted. Cyborgs aren't liked here._

"Of course. But shouldn't we rather use our time to talk about more interesting things? You, for example."

He smiled at her in a way no woman could ever resist. He knew she had fallen for it the second she proudly puffed herself up.

_That was easy. Maybe they wouldn't need to fight this time at all._

"I am the first commander of Telón's military and my name is Sapphire. It is my job to keep the city safe from the inside and outside likewise. At the moment you two are breaches in this safety and I will have to either take you with me or kill you both right here. Your decision."

"I'll gladly join you under just one circumstance: I want to ride with you."

_God that sounded stupid. But it works._

Shenyen gave himself a quiet smile as she nodded happily.

The commander gave some quick orders and the soldiers packed up and moved back towards the vehicle. He held open a door for her then followed her into the ATV. He let Alita take a place on his left as the car started moving.

The way he talked to that woman was incredibly annoying. Alita was pissed. From the moment he shut her up, he had been flirting with her all along. She wasn't sure if he was serious or just trying to save them any more trouble. And now he was involved in an animated chat with Sapphire. Alita was pretty sure she already hated the woman.

The cars crossed through the remains quickly, taking a route around the main city plate. They then entered the shadow of the wreckage. For quite a while, they drove on until they were close to the center of it. Between the huge metal walls was a gateway, big enough for the cars to pass through.

A few soldiers stood inside, waved them through and closed the gate behind them. They went down the small passageway until it opened up into a huge cave.

There was an entire city inside this fallen place.

It appeared everything within this broken down place had been reused and re-purposed. A big market laid in front of them, and further in the back were houses and fields. The entire ceiling seemed to be a huge lamp, sending bright and warm light down onto everything.

And in between all of this, people roamed around, going after their daily business. None of them paid any attention to the ATV's as they passed through. Alita noticed the people outside all shared the same hair. There was no other color than platinum blonde around in this place. How was that possible? Some kind of genetic evolution? Or just a symbol of membership? Also, there didn't appear to be any cyborgs here. She couldn't spot a single augmented person between the citizens of this town. How intriguing.

The vehicles moved further through the crowd until they came up on a huge town hall. White marble pillars guarded the entrance as the three of them passed through, followed by almost a dozen soldiers. They walked further inside until they came up on a big wooden door. The commander stopped, told them to wait, and went inside. She came back after just a minute and commanded them to join her.

Behind the door was a small office. It was stylized with dark wood and enlightened by a big window which took an entire wall of space. Two big desks were placed inside the room, one of them was packed with papers and books while behind the other one, an elderly man was seated. His hair had the same blonde color even though there was not much left of it. He wore a completely black suit that complimented his tall physique. Dark eyes surveyed the two of them as he stood up from his chair.

The commander was the first one to take the word.

"You are now facing Sir Graham, first major of Telón."

As she walked past Shenyen she added.

"Don't ever piss him off."

And off she was. The two were now alone with the major. He let a few more minutes pass by just watching them before he finally spoke.

"Welcome. I have been waiting for a long time to meet the two of you. Welcome to the fallen city, Telón."


End file.
